ONLINE FAMILY TREES
There are a growing number of online websites which encourage publication of personal family trees
on their web space. If the researcher doesn't mind the ads that appear with each page, this is a good way
to publish a family tree for free. These sites have search engines so that information
can be easily found. Some sites now have millions of family trees, and their goal is to list
everyone in the world who ever lived. They can be a valuable resourse for finding distant cousins,
especially if they list an email contact address, and are well-documented.
The person uploading the
family trees is responsible for supplying the information and documentation, so quality may vary from
tree to tree. Make sure to check the date the information was uploaded, as the information could be
several years old, or uploaded within the past few months. Writing to the genealogist who uploaded
the tree for their most recent information and possible connections to one's family is highly recommended.
Privacy Concerns with Online Data
Because of the problems with identiy theft, it is common practice to not post the information
of living persons on these family tree sites. Usually most software programs which make the file
you upload (called a gedcom), will allow to to set a date beyond which people are listed only as
"living". Currently, the recommended date is around 1920, but if there areee living family members
born before 1920 in the family
tree, the date can be set to an earlier time.
Online Family Trees
Here are some sites to which you can search for and upload your family trees. Please follow the online instructions
at each site:
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Rootsweb World Connect Family Tree at Ancestry.com Millions of trees and surnames, and the number is growing daily - so check back often.
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FamilySearch.org - LDS Mormon huge family tree database.
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FamilyTreeMaker.com - Commercial site that is subscrption based and works with Family Tree Maker software. Years ago, their trees were also offered on cdroms that came with the software, but they have outgrown that option. You still might find researchers who have
these old cdroms which might have some valuable information for you without a subscription.
Data Mining Family Trees from Online Databases
Because online family tree sites are so popular for genealogists, there is a lot of information
available, even if the patron does not chose to upload your family tree. A researcher can use their search
engine, find possible ancestors, copy and paste to a word processing file or the notes section of
their computer's genealogy database. One needs to be careful to note the source of any information
collected that way, and to carefully compare it with what you know about your family. Some of the
information posted may be inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading. But much of it is very good. Again,
contacting the person who uploaded the information for verification and clarification is always
best. And the researcher might end up with a new cousins as well who can help with that line. Sometimes
these contacts will have pictures and other data not uploaded to share as well.
This website written and designed by:
Sharon Marie
Centanne, Genealogy Research Instructor and Internet Trainer
Please
direct any questions to: Sharon.
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This page updated April 16, 2008
